Stonebriar Commercial Finance
Stonebriar Commercial Finance’s custom office draws inspiration from the world of transportation. The space pays an elegant homage to the financial firm’s primary focus—the transportation industry—with themes of streamlined motion, clean lines dramatized by black accents, and materiality that echoes major modes of transport. A statement office and dynamic home for work, the amenity-rich space is designed to bring people together and adapt to daily needs in an environment that nurtures well-being.
Studying forms and patterns across modes of transport, our workplace designers translated speed, strength, and directionality into architecture. With pronounced angles and crisp definition, the space feels aerodynamic: strong alignment guides the eye, connecting each element and creating a sense of fluidity and movement—a continuous line pulling you forward.
― Nicholas Sandler, President, Stonebriar Commercial Finance
The design’s theme of angularity and forward motion is intensified with the bold yet sophisticated palette. The versatility of black throughout is key. On the connecting stair, for example, black metal runs alongside two tones of smoky glass. This contrasts further with black soapstone on nearby millwork. The play of light and depth within a single color gives the office an expressive material language while keeping the palette cohesive.
The socially oriented space is designed to draw employees out of private offices, toward each other. With a putting green and golf simulator, fitness and wellness rooms to blow off steam, and multiple spaces to socialize throughout—including a speakeasy—the design combines high functionality with space for authentic connection.
Private offices and private meeting spaces line the perimeter, while collaborative and amenity spaces sit next to each other toward the center. This adjacency is key to the space’s fluidity: With the golf area next to open conference space, for example, employees can work on their short game while hosting a meeting. Meanwhile, thoughtful acoustic design ensures the buzz of collaboration and events doesn’t become a distraction.
Stonebriar’s speakeasy is one of the standout elements of the space. Where the office at large reflects industrial-scale movement, this more intimately scaled space takes inspiration from freeform, human motion—dancing in the shade of an arched urban underpass.
Nearly every space in the office is multifunctional, turning it into a kind of blank canvas. In meeting rooms, for example, black back-painted glass turns walls into functional, writeable surfaces while camouflaging powered-down mounted screens when the room transforms for events or social gatherings.
